Combined washer and drier



Feb. 14, 1939. c. E. LANG 3 COMBINED WASHER AND DRIER Filed Feb. 2, 1935 ,Y Y MI ATTORNEYS.

Patented Feb. 14, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,147,302 COMBINED WASHER AND DRIER.

Carl E. Lang, San Francisco, Calif. Application February 2, 1935, sci-nan. 4,708

1 Claim.

clothes and thus clean them without subjecting the clothes to a mechanical agitator. In this way the wear on the clothes during the washing operation is reduced to a minimum.

A further disadvantage of the standard washing machines using a mechanical agitator lies in the fact that the agitator projects above the bottom of the tub, and the shaft of the agitator extends through a packing gland in the tub bottom. Very often this packing gland leaks. Furthermore the cost of the washing machine is increased because of the necessity of placing a packing gland in the tub bottoni which will be leakproof.

In the present invention I mount a clothes basket or container in the tub, and I suspend the clothes basket from the top of the washing machine by means of a frame and motion is imparted to the clothes basket by rotating the frame.

The clothes basket may be tilted so that it may be filled or emptied from the top of the machine with little effort.

The means for forcing the washing fluid through the clothes comprises means for causing the fluid to revolve in the tub with means for restricting the passage of the fluid at a certain place for forcing the fluid into the perforated basket. The fluid entering the basket is forced through the clothes, and thus cleans them.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the following specification, and the novel features of the device will be particularly pointed out in the appended claim;

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing forming a part of this application, in which v Figure 1 is a vertical section through the washing and drying machine, parts being shown in elevation; and

Figure 2 is a horizontal section taken substantially along the line 22 of Figure 1.

In carrying out my invention I provide a washing machine and clothes drier having a storage compartment A and washing and drying compartment or tub B. The compartment or tub B is placed above the compartment A and both are supported by any suitable means such as by 5 legs I Within the compartment B I dispose a frame 2, and this frame is fixedly carried by a rotatable shaft 3. The shaft in turn is mounted in bearings 4, and is rotated by an electric motor 5, or 10 other suitable power source through the means of a belt and pulley mechanism 6, or other suitable operating mechanism.

Within the frame 2 I pivotally dispose a per,- forated basket I, the basket or container being pivotally mounted on the frame at 8. This basket may be tilted into the dotted line position shown in Figure 1, for ease of loading and unloading the basket. A cover 9 is placed over the top of the basket, and if desired this cover may be formed of two sections 9a and 9b, hinged at l0 so that thecover can be more readily removed through the open top H of the compartment B.

When the basket I is swung into the full line position shown in'Figures 1 and 2, the cover 9 25 is secured to the top cross piece l2 of the frame 2 by means of projections i3. The projections [3 are carried by the top 9, and are removably secured to the top piece I! by bolts I4. [The bolts ll are slidably mounted in elongated bearings l4 and have their ends removably disposed in a keeper M. The projections l3 are received between the bearings I4 and the keepers I4".

Figure 1 shows the bearings l4 and keepers l4 supported by the frame 2. The basket is now in 35 operative position, and will be rotated by the motor 5.

-I will now describe the means for circulating the washing fluid in the compartment B and for causing this fluid to be forced into the basket I and through the clothes for washing purposes. In Figure 2 I show a fluid diverting partition l5 arcuate in shape and disposed in the compartment B so as to form a restricted passageway at l6 between the partition and the container or basket 1. The partition l5 preferably extends.

throughout the height of the compartment B and can arranged vertically. In the drawing I To shown the partition as extending vertic-a1 in the compartment 13. The curved part of the partition extends inwardly into close proximity to the container.

The frame 2 pivotally carries vanes l1, and these vanes are positivelyswung so as to follow the inner surface of the compartment B. Any

means for thus swinging the vanes may be used and I have shown one mechanism for accomplishing this in Figure 2. Each vane carries a quadrant I8 which meshes with a rack IS on a spring pressed rod 20, slidabiy carried in brackets 2' supported by the frame 2. The inner end of each rod carries a roller 2|, that rides on a cam 22. A spring mounted on each rod, bears against a collar 25 secured to the rod and against one of the brackets 2' for yieldingly moving the rod toward the cam. The cam has a high spot 23 which conforms with the shape of the partition I5 so that the vane II will gradually be swung from a position which is radial to the center of the compartment B into a position which is substantially at right angles to the radii.

In Figure 2 I have shown two vanes l1 and this be seen that in the operation of the device as soon as the roller 2| leaves the high spot 23 of the cam 22, the spring 25 will quickly move the rod 20 so that the vane I! will again be swung into a radial position. The movement of the vanes l'l will cause the fluid to circulate in the compartment B. The fluid will be forced through the narrowing passageway l6, and being restricted, will flow into the basket I, and will force its way through the clothes.

As an aid for causing the washing fluid to move toward the center of the basket I, I provide indentations 2-6 on the inside of the basket, see Figure 2. These indentations in reality are portions of the perforated container wall bent inwardly and have a surface 26a extending inwardly substantially at right angles to the adjacent curved wall of the basket. This radially extending surface causes the fluid to be deflected through the wall and toward the center of the basket.

As a further aid for causing the liquid to circulate between the inner surface of the tub or compartment B and the perforated container or basket I, I provide auxiliary vanes 21 which are secured to the basket at 28. These vanes 21 extend radially from the basket 1 and act as paddles and cooperate with the vanes I! for positively circulating the fluid in the space between the vertical wall of the compartment B and the container 1.

After the washing operation the washing fluid in the compartment B may be drained into the storage compartment A by means of opening a valve 29 in a pipe 30 that places the compartment B in communication with the compartment A. After all of the washing fluid has been drained into the compartment A the valve is closed and rinsing fluid is added to the compartment B. The basket I may now be rotated in the manner already described, and this will cause the rinsing fluid to remove all of the cleaning fluid from the clothes. After the rinsing has been completed the rinsing fluid may be removed from the compartment B through a discharge pipe 3| when a valve 32 normally closing this pipe is opened. It is obvious that any other means desired may be used for conveying the washing fluid from the compartment B to the compartment A, and also any means may be used for releasing the rinsing fluid from the compartment B. If desired more than one rinsing of the clothes may be carried out.

After the clothes have been rinsed they are still left in the basket I for the drying operation. In Figure 1 I show a rheostat 32' placed-in the electric circuit 33 to the motor 5. When the hasket I is used for washing the clothes the arm 34 of the rheostat is placed in a .position where the motor will rotate the basket approximately one hundred revolutions per minute. When, however, the basket is used for drying purposes the arm 34 is moved for cutting out the resistance and for causing the motor to operate at a sum-- cient speed to rotate the basket approximately nine hundred revolutions per minute.

be locked by any means, so as to extend tangentially to the wall of the basket I. The rods 20 will therefore hold the rollers 21 free from the cam 22. One way of locking the rods 20 against movement is to place pins (not shown) in openings 20', these pins contacting with the collars 25' on the rods 20 and holding the rods against longitudinal movement.

After the clothes have been dried the basket I may be swung intothe dotted line position shown in Figure 1 upon freeing the bolts 14 from the projections l3. The. cover 9 may now be removed'and this will give access to the clothes which also may be removed. The operator may now place a new batch of clothes in the basket and again swing the basket into operative position and secure it in place by the bolts I.

If desired the same washing fluid may be used for the second batch of clothes, and to this end I provide a water pump 35 operated by a shaft 36 connected to the motor 5. A clutch mechanism indicated generally at 3'! connects the shaft 36 with the shaft of the motor only when it is desired to use the pump 35. The pump sucks the cleaning fluid from the compartment A by means of a pipe 38 and forces this liquid through a pipe 39 which communicates with the compartment B. If it is desired to drain the fluid from the compartment A and to discharge this fluid, a valve 40 in the pipe 39 is closed and the valve ll in the discharge pipe 42 is opened. It is obvious that any other means for taking care of the fluid in the compartment A may be used When the basket is rotating at this speed the vane Il may without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

It will be noted that a vacuum is created behind each vane except the one passing the partition l5, and that fluid is sucked from the basket to fill these vacuum spaces rather than from the space between the basket and the tub. The water in the basket and in the tub has a tendency to move outwardly during the rotation of the basket, due to centrifugal force. Therefore, the water in the basket will flow outwardly to fill the vacuum spaces rather than the water between the basket and the tub fillingthe space. It has also been mentioned that the gradually reducing passageway IG forces the liquid into the basket. .In this way a flow of fluid is maintained through the basket for washing purposes.

Another feature of the invention is the movable clothes container that can be moved toward the open portion of the compartment to facilitate the removing of clothes from the container or the placing of additional clothes in the container. Any means for permitting this movement will suflice. I

While I have shown only the preferred form of the invention, it should be understood that various changes or modifications may be made within the scope of the appended claim without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim:

A washer and drier comprising a tub, a frame extending into the tub from the top, a perforated clothes container vertically supported and horizontally pivoted in the frame and having a. top that can be opened, means for locking the container to the frame, and means for rotatably supporting the frame, means for rotating the frame and container as a unit, said container being swingable on its pivot into a, tilting position in the frame when the locking means frees the container, whereby articles may be readily inserted in the container or removed therefrom through 5 the open top of the container.-

CARL E. LANG. 

